Dr. Saerom Kim

Dr. Saerom Kim recently joined the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra as Principal Clarinet in September of 2022. In the summer of 2018, she performed Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Inori with the Lucerne Festival Academy at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, the Philharmonie de Paris in France, and the Berliner Philharmonie in Germany. In 2019, she appeared with the Lucerne Festival Alumni Orchestra, performing in Switzerland and Germany. Dr. Kim participated in several music festivals including the Lucerne Festival, Moritzburg Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, the International Clarinet Association Festivals, and Charles Neidich and Ayako Oshima’s Clarinet Seminar.

Dr. Kim debuted as a soloist at the age of eleven in South Korea and was honored to receive the Grand Prize at the Korean Clarinet Association Competition in 2002. Her numerous awards also include Honorable Mention from the Juilliard Pre-College Open Concerto Competition in 2004, third prize at the International Clarinet Association Competition in 2006, and the first prize from the Paranov Concerto Competition at The Hartt School in 2016. In March 2017, she performed John Corigliano’s Clarinet Concerto with the Hartt Orchestra.

Born in 1990 in South Korea, Saerom moved to the United States at the age of thirteen. She graduated from Juilliard Pre-College and received both Bachelor’s and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Ayako Oshima and Charles Neidich. In 2020, she completed her Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Hartford, the Hartt School. During her doctorate degree, Dr. Kim wrote her dissertation, “An Evolution of Isang Yun’s Compositional Approach: A Comparative Study of Riul, Piri and Clarinet Concerto.” She currently lives in Stamford, CT.